In a national online survey of more than 1,500 U.S. parent-child groups involving children aged 12-17 years, researchers found that Mom and Dad still matter when it comes to fostering news consumption in their offspring.
In fact, even when the two groups are using different devices, “parent news habits and reinforcement of news consumption among their children are the most important block of predictors in the models. Other spheres of socialization do matter but less so than what happens in the home.”
Stephanie Edgerly of Northwestern University, Kjerstin Thorson and Esther Thorson of Michigan State University, Emily Vraga from George Mason University and Leticia Bode of Georgetown University asked about news consumption via television, computers, mobile phones and tablets.
Television was the device used most frequently for news and information among youth in the study, with computers running a close second; computers edged out TV for the top spot among parents. Mobile phones and tablets were third and fourth for both groups. (It’s important to note that this is not about time spent on the device, rather the question asked how often during the day the devices were checked to find news and information.)
Edgerly, S., Thorson, K., Thorson, E., Vraga, E. K., & Bode, L. (2017). Do parents still model news consumption? Socializing news use among adolescents in a multi-device world. new media & society, 1461444816688451.